[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC1857]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 38--FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
SUBCHAPTER IV--NATIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Sec. 1857. Prohibited acts
It is unlawful--
(1) for any person--
(A) to violate any provision of this chapter or any
regulation or permit issued pursuant to this chapter;
(B) to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing after the
revocation, or during the period of suspension, of an applicable
permit issued pursuant to this chapter;
(C) to violate any provision of, or regulation under, an
applicable governing international fishery agreement entered
into pursuant to section 1821(c) of this title;
(D) to refuse to permit any officer authorized to enforce
the provisions of this chapter (as provided for in section 1861
of this title) to board a fishing vessel subject to such
person's control for purposes of conducting any search or
inspection in connection with the enforcement of this chapter or
any regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph
(A) or (C);
(E) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate,
or interfere with any such authorized officer in the conduct of
any search or inspection described in subparagraph (D);
(F) to resist a lawful arrest for any act prohibited by this
section;
(G) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, purchase,
import, export, or have custody, control, or possession of, any
fish taken or retained in violation of this chapter or any
regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph (A)
or (C);
(H) to interfere with, delay, or prevent, by any means, the
apprehension or arrest of another person, knowing that such
other person has committed any act prohibited by this section;
(I) to knowingly and willfully submit to a Council, the
Secretary, or the Governor of a State false information
(including, but not limited to, false information regarding the
capacity and extent to which a United States fish processor, on
an annual basis, will process a portion of the optimum yield of
a fishery that will be harvested by fishing vessels of the
United States) regarding any matter that the Council, Secretary,
or Governor is considering in the course of carrying out this
chapter;
(J) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, or purchase,
in interstate or foreign commerce, any whole live lobster of the
species Homarus americanus, that--
(i) is smaller than the minimum possession size in
effect at the time under the American Lobster Fishery
Management Plan, as implemented by regulations published in
part 649 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, or any
successor to that plan implemented under this subchapter, or
in the absence of any such plan, is smaller than the minimum
possession size in effect at the time under a coastal
fishery management plan for American lobster adopted by the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission under the
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (16
U.S.C. 5101 et seq.);
(ii) is bearing eggs attached to its abdominal
appendages; or
(iii) bears evidence of the forcible removal of extruded
eggs from its abdominal appendages;
(K) to to \1\ steal or attempt to steal or to negligently
and without authorization remove, damage, or tamper with--
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\1\ So in original.
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(i) fishing gear owned by another person, which is
located in the exclusive economic zone, or
(ii) fish contained in such fishing gear;
(L) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate,
sexually harass, bribe, or interfere with any observer on a
vessel under this chapter, or any data collector employed by the
National Marine Fisheries Service or under contract to any
person to carry out responsibilities under this chapter;
(M) to engage in large-scale driftnet fishing that is
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, including use
of a fishing vessel of the United States to engage in such
fishing beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation;
(N) to strip pollock of its roe and discard the flesh of the
pollock;
(O) to knowingly and willfully fail to disclose, or to
falsely disclose, any financial interest as required under
section 1852(j) of this title, or to knowingly vote on a Council
decision in violation of section 1852(j)(7)(A) of this title; or
(P)(i) to remove any of the fins of a shark (including the
tail) and discard the carcass of the shark at sea;
(ii) to have custody, control, or possession of any such fin
aboard a fishing vessel without the corresponding carcass; or
(iii) to land any such fin without the corresponding
carcass.
For purposes of subparagraph (P) there is a rebuttable presumption
that any shark fins landed from a fishing vessel or found on board a
fishing vessel were taken, held, or landed in violation of
subparagraph (P) if the total weight of shark fins landed or found
on board exceeds 5 percent of the total weight of shark carcasses
landed or found on board.
(2) for any vessel other than a vessel of the United States, and
for the owner or operator of any vessel other than a vessel of the
United States, to engage--
(A) in fishing within the boundaries of any State, except--
(i) recreational fishing permitted under section 1821(i)
of this title;
(ii) fish processing permitted under section 1856(c) of
this title; or
(iii) transshipment at sea of fish or fish products
within the boundaries of any State in accordance with a
permit approved under section 1824(d) of this title;
(B) in fishing, except recreational fishing permitted under
section 1821(i) of this title, within the exclusive economic
zone, or for any anadromous species or Continental Shelf fishery
resources beyond such zone, unless such fishing is authorized
by, and conducted in accordance with, a valid and applicable
permit issued pursuant to section 1824(b), (c), or (d) of this
title; or
(C) except as permitted under section 1856(c) of this title,
in fish processing (as defined in paragraph (4)(A) of such
section) within the internal waters of a State (as defined in
paragraph (4)(B) of such section);
(3) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or
operator of any vessel of the United States, to transfer at sea
directly or indirectly, or attempt to so transfer at sea, any United
States harvested fish to any foreign fishing vessel, while such
foreign vessel is within the exclusive economic zone or within the
boundaries of any State except to the extent that the foreign
fishing vessel has been permitted under section 1824(d) of this
title or section 1856(c) of this title to receive such fish;
(4) for any fishing vessel other than a vessel of the United
States to operate, and for the owner or operator of a fishing vessel
other than a vessel of the United States to operate such vessel, in
the exclusive economic zone or within the boundaries of any State,
if--
(A) all fishing gear on the vessel is not stored below deck
or in an area where it is not normally used, and not readily
available, for fishing; or
(B) all fishing gear on the vessel which is not so stored is
not secured and covered so as to render it unusable for fishing;
unless such vessel is authorized to engage in fishing in the area in
which the vessel is operating; and
(5) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or
operator of any vessel of the United States, to engage in fishing in
the waters of a foreign nation in a manner that violates an
international fishery agreement between that nation and the United
States that has been subject to Congressional oversight in the
manner described in section 1823 of this title, or any regulations
issued to implement such an agreement; except that the binding
provisions of such agreement and implementing regulations shall have
been published in the Federal Register prior to such violation.
(Pub. L. 94-265, title III, Sec. 307, Apr. 13, 1976, 90 Stat. 355; Pub.
L. 95-354, Sec. 5(4), Aug. 28, 1978, 92 Stat. 521; Pub. L. 97-191,
Sec. 2, June 1, 1982, 96 Stat. 107; Pub. L. 97-453, Sec. 15(b), Jan. 12,
1983, 96 Stat. 2492; Pub. L. 99-659, title I, Secs. 101(c)(2), 107(a),
Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3707, 3713; Pub. L. 100-629, Sec. 4, Nov. 7,
1988, 102 Stat. 3286; Pub. L. 101-224, Sec. 8, Dec. 12, 1989, 103 Stat.
1907; Pub. L. 101-627, title I, Sec. 113, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4453;
Pub. L. 102-251, title III, Sec. 301(h), Mar. 9, 1992, 106 Stat. 64;
Pub. L. 104-297, title I, Sec. 113, title IV, Sec. 405(b)(1), Oct. 11,
1996, 110 Stat. 3597, 3621; Pub. L. 106-557, Sec. 3, Dec. 21, 2000, 114
Stat. 2772.)
Amendment of Section
Pub. L. 102-251, title III, Secs. 301(h), 308, Mar. 9, 1992, 106
Stat. 64, 66, as amended by Pub. L. 104-297, title IV,
Sec. 405(b)(1), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3621, provided that,
effective on the date on which the Agreement between the United
States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime
Boundary, signed June 1, 1990, enters into force for the United
States, with authority to prescribe implementing regulations
effective Mar. 9, 1992, but with no such regulation to be effective
until the date on which the Agreement enters into force for the
United States, this section is amended:
(1) in paragraph (1)(K), by inserting ``or special areas''
immediately after ``exclusive economic zone'';
(2) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ``or areas'' immediately
after ``such zone'';
(3) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``or special areas''
immediately after ``exclusive economic zone''; and
(4) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``or special areas''
immediately after ``exclusive economic zone''.
References in Text
The Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, referred
to in par. (1)(J)(i), is title VIII of Pub. L. 103-206, Dec. 20, 1993,
107 Stat. 2447, as amended, which is classified principally to chapter
71 (Sec. 5101 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of
title VIII to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 5101
of this title and Tables.
Amendments
2000--Par. (1). Pub. L. 106-557 added subpar. (P) and concluding
provisions.
1996--Par. (1)(J)(i). Pub. L. 104-297, Sec. 113(a), substituted
``plan implemented'' for ``plan, implemented'' and inserted before
semicolon at end ``, or in the absence of any suc
